Really Surprising Pleasant Day

It's turning out to be a really nice day,the sun is shining,but we are in a winter storm watch starting tomorrow afternoon,with winds gusting to 40mph,and 3-6 inches of snow.Damit,I want snow for Christmas,just seems more like Christmas to me anyway.Tonight,we're on our way to see "The Hobbit" and from all the previews I've seen,it looks like it will be an incredible movie and it's in 3D.Excited to see it,and we're making it a family get together with the kids.Will be fun!Got to get out of here and go eat lunch and get busy doing something besides being on the computer,all kidding aside,I do enjoy my pc.Take care friends and have a great day.See ya soon

Christmas

Christmas Tree Traditions

The decorated Christmas tree can be traced back to the ancient Romans who during their winter festival decorated trees with small pieces of metal during Saturnalia, a winter festival in honor of Saturnus, the god of agriculture.An evergreen, the Paradise tree, was decorated with apples as a symbol of the feast of Adam and Eve held on December 24th during the middle ages.

Christmas trees were sold in Alsace in 1531. Alsace was at that time a part of Germany. Today it is part of France. The trees were sold at local markets and set up in homes undecorated.In the Ammerschweier in Alsace there was an ordinance that stated no person "shall have for Christmas more than one bush of more than eight shoe lengths."

Sixteenth century folklore credited Martin Luther as being the first to decorate an indoor tree. After a walk through a forest of evergreens with shining stars overhead, Luther tried to describe the experience to his family and showed them by bringing a tree into their home and decorating it with candles. Some historians state that the first evidence of a lighted tree appeared more than a century after Martin Luther's death in 1546.

The oldest record of a decorated Christmas tree came from a 1605 diary found in Strasburg, France (Germany in 1605). The tree was decorated with paper roses, apples and candies.In Austria & Germany during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the tops of evergreens were cut and hung upside down in a living room corner. They were decorated with apples, nuts and strips of red paper.

The first record of Christmas trees in America was for children in the German Moravian Church's settlement in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Christmas 1747. Actual trees were not decorated, but wooden pyramids covered with evergreen branches were decorated with candles.The custom of the Christmas tree was introduced in the United States during the War of Independence by Hessian troops. An early account tells of a Christmas tree set up by American soldiers at Fort Dearborn, Illinois, the site of Chicago, in 1804. Most other early accounts in the United States were among the German settlers in eastern Pennsylvania.

In 1834, Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, was credited with bringing the first Christmas tree to Windsor Castle for the Royal Family. Some historians state that in actuality Queen Charlotte, Victoria's grandmother, recalled that a Christmas tree was in the Queen's lodge at Windsor on Christmas Day in 1800.Charles Minnegrode introduced the custom of decorating trees in Williamsburg, Virginia in 1842.

By 1850, the Christmas tree had become fashionable in the eastern states. Until this time, it had been considered a quaint foreign custom.Mark Carr brought trees from the Catskills to the streets of New York in 1851, and opened the first retail Christmas tree lot in the United States.

Franklin Pierce was the first president to introduce the Christmas tree to the White House in 1856 for a group of Washington Sunday School children. The first national Christmas Tree was lighted in the year 1923 on the White House lawn by President Calvin Coolidge.

Jack and I wish each and everyone of you the most blessed and joyous Christmas and a very happy and prosperous New Year.Let's all be happy and thankful for what the Lord has given us and never forget his special gift to us in that lowly manger long ago.The true meaning of Christmas.Merry Christmas everyone.

Cold

Gosh it was cold this morning,4 degrees with a -4 degree windchill.Yikes,I was cold.Doesn't do much for arthritis or fibromyalgia and later in the week it's going back up in the 50's,crazy.Finally got our little tree decorated and chose all white lights this year.I'll try to get a picture posted of it soon.It's only at the most 4ft tall but cute.Christmas came too fast for me this year,only 2 weeks now.I'm not even finished with my shopping but better get busy.Have a great Monday

Weather Change

Gosh the weather here changed overnight.Forecast to be 9 degrees tonight with 25mph winds.It's been really crazy weather here and next week it's supposed to get back up in the 40's and 50's.Blows my mind how it switches back and forth and adjusting to it is hard and hard to figure what to wear from one day to the next.What can I say,that's Kansas for ya,wait 5 minutes and the weather changes.What we really need bad is some moisture.It's so darn dry.Today is cloudy,windy,and cold.It doesn't seem like Christmas to me this year.I just haven't been ready for it and I don't have my Christmas shopping done either.Guess I better get on the ball and get it over with.Have a great Sunday friends.

Flu Season

Finally got our tree up late today.It’s a small tree,only 4ft tall.My living room is small so decided to use the smaller tree.We put all white lights on it this year.Last year we used red so white it was.Jack wanted the white lights to tell you the truth.I wanted red but we compromised.He came home sick today.He’s been vomiting and having the back door trots.The flu is going around here and hope I don’t get it too.I really don’t want to be sick for Christmas.I hate the darn flu.That’s all for this time.Have a great weekend.Hugs

Editors

 I'm trying another offline blog editor for posting to my blog.This one is called BlogDesk and it seems pretty worthwhile.I've been looking for a good one to use on my Imac too.Jack surprised me today and ordered me the Macbook Pro 13.3 laptop with 128gb flash.I just about fell over and i was so tickled.He sure spoils me and I sure love him lots.

I learned tonight that my late son'e wife Vi had a heart attack today.She's only 61 years old and I pray she pulls through.I guess she has bloodclots in her legs and they'll be working on that tomorrow.Right now,she's in ICU in Wichita.Hope she gets along ok.

That's about it for now.Have a great Tuesday everyone.

Mood: 

Computer

Happy Friday Everyone.I finally got my new Macbook Pro yesterday and it is SWEET! Wonder why I never got one before?It's so much different to use than windows and harder getting used to.Seems everything is made for window pc's as far as scripts are concerned.The macbook is really snappy though and I'm really happy with it.More later,have a great day.